Reality15

Thanks for the responses! As far as Years 1 - 25, I didn't bother building them as they are mostly pre-rides. It's based on Michigan's Adventure, which had its start as a petting zoo. Basically I started my timeline right before Corkscrew was introduced, which is coming after the Year 26 season. The Merry-Go-Round sits right inside the entrance of the park with its great band organ. That wraps things up for opening day, we hope to see you all season long at Deer Park Funland! The Elephants seem somewhat out of the way right now, hopefully that will also change. Mutley's Putt Putts is another popular attraction, and almost never has a line thanks to the great crew over there. The Spider is still our most popular and thrilling ride. Hopefully that will soon change. The line for the Scrambler filled the entire queue the park was so busy today! Today is opening day! We're glad to see people coming out and supporting the park, especially with our new owner and his new direction for the park.

Please read: Michigan's Wonderland is based off of Michigan's Adventure in Muskegon, Michigan, from its introduction of its first major roller coaster through the 2008 introduction of Thunderhawk. Year 26 - 31 is a look back at the archives of Michigan's Wonderland, when the park was known as Deer Park Funland. I'm going to do these quickly, sometimes even one or two posts per year to catch up to the current storyline, Year 32. That being said, I hope you enjoy my look at the history of this great park I've gotten to enjoy for two decades. ================================================== YEAR 26 ARCHIVES - PRESEASON ================================================== Press Release: "Rob Jordan to purchase Deer Park Funland"MUSKEGON, MICH - Local entrepreneur Rob Jordan has big plans for the former Deer Park petting zoo, with hopes of someday transforming it into a grand regional amusement park. "Deer Park has always been a great place for families to come and spend time together. My goal is to keep that family atmosphere and transform it into an amusement park everyone can enjoy," said Jordan. The park will open for Year 26 with a new name, Deer Park Funland. Jordan hopes the name will give visitors the impression that "there is more to do than just see the deer here." Update: Welcome to Deer Park Funland! My name is Bob Donaldson, Public Relations Manager for Deer Park Funland. My job is to bring you the latest information and pictures from what goes on here at Deer Park Funland. Workers are getting everything ready for the Year 26 season. Flowers have been planted and maintenance has been getting all the rides ready to go. The Dog House staff has been cooking their fresh-cut french fries all week long. I can't wait to get my hands on some! The best way to see Deer Park Funland is by riding the Ferris Wheel, our tallest ride. I wouldn't expect it to be our largest for too much longer, however... Pretty soon the deer will come back out for our visitors to feed and pet. The deer were the original draw for the park since Year 1. Mutley's Putt Putts are all gassed up and ready to go for the season. We hope to see you opening day! Deer Park Funland opens for the season tomorrow, we hope to see you there! Bob Donaldson Public Relations Manager Deer Park Funland

You're already risking your jobs and breaking your disclosure agreement by posting stuff like that on a public message board. Keep in mind: your managers and even their managers read these forums. Posting confidential information (such as you've posted) does break your disclosure agreement. It's not worth arguing anyways, is it? I mean, you're arguing on an online message board...

The picture of Opa is actually King Chaos... a lot of parks do that, though. Look at any Cedar Fair marketing brochure, there's bound to be some generic waterpark shot from a random CF waterpark.

Season ended a couple weeks ago at Six Flags Great America. Opted to not do a coaster but instead Buccaneer Battle as the last ride of '09.

Name: Jon Age: 20 What is your roller coaster count? 112 What is your home park? Michigan's Adventure What is the nearest big city? Grand Rapids What is your occupation? Web Manager About how many times a year do you visit a park (including your home park)? 10-20, but then again I work at my home park About how many times a year do you travel to a park that is not your home park? 5-10 When you travel do you go primarily to amusement parks or do you also try and hit other sites? Combination of both What is the farthest you’ve traveled to go to an amusement park?Walt Disney World, approximately 20 hours away Does roller coaster time get in the way of family time? (Do you choose to miss your children’s or family’s sporting events, holidays, birthdays, etc…) Nope Do you have any other major hobbies? Writing, photography, webdesign Do you get feelings of sadness in the offseason? Do you even have an offseason? Do you travel during the offseason? I spend the offseason working and studying Do you consider yourself friends with someone you met who works at an amusement park? (Or reverse it, if you work or worked and an amusement park have you made friends with enthusiasts?) I've made friends with plenty of enthusiasts, and when I visit parks on my off-time, I hang out with them Would it bother you to go to an amusement park by yourself? No Have you gone to an amusement park by yourself? If so have you ever ran into another enthusiast and tagged along with them? Yes and yes Do you find it easy to make friends with other enthusiasts? Yes How do you get your coaster news? TPR, NewsPlusNotes, Screamscape How many different forum sites do you regularly post on? None, really. I just lurk a lot If there was a poll that asked a large pool of enthusiasts what their favorite roller coaster is, what do you think would be the top 3 responses be for wood? And for steel? WOOD: El Toro, Balder, Voyage; STEEL: Bizarro, Millennium Force, Expedition GeForce Same scenario but for amusement parks, what would be the top 3? Knoebel's, Holiday World, Kennywood Have you ever “stole a kid” to get a credit on a kiddie coaster? Not yet, haven't had to, though Do you cut other categories out of your budget to make trips to parks? (Entertainment, fast food, holidays, tobacco or alcohol, etc…) Yes, usually out of the fast food budget Before you visit a new park do you research the park finding the best way to navigate the park, get the best deals, or what days to go? Nope, I like to just "experience" it as-is Do you feel the roller coaster enthusiast community is a warm and accepting community, or a negative and discouraging community? Warm and accepting, as long as you're not a jerk about things Do you like to talk about your hobby with people who are not roller coaster enthusiasts? All the time

You really trust a Wikipedia article? Anyone could go in there and edit it, heck, I could make it say the ride's going to Lakemont Park if I really wanted it to.

Yeah, I can see six: Batman the Ride Raging Bull Ragin Cajun Viper Demon Whizzer

Big Mike, Just thought I would let you know that your trip to Wild Zone Adventures in Ontario should probably be put on hold. The park closed June 30th, and the credit is no longer available. Let me know what your plans are for the weekend you're coming to Michigan, I'll be in the southeast part of the state for the future-mother-in-law's birthday, and would love to hang out. -Jon "reality15" Roost

I voted for Arrow. I've been on one of each, Greased Lightning at Kentucky Kingdom and Afterburner at Fun Spot. While the Schwarzkopf is definitely a fun ride, I love the Arrow for the forces and (maybe only in the case of Fun Spot's Afterburner) insane ride cycle. The launches are great on both rides, but while the Schwarzkopf only has one, the Arrow has two. Sure, the Arrow has OTSRs, but I feel like if I didn't have them, it wouldn't have belonged at Fun Spot (OTSRs on the Zyklon, really?). Call me crazy, because I love the other Schwarzkopfs, but I think Arrow did a great job with their launch loop coasters.

What does that have to do with his argument? They're two different rides. Sure, they're both stand-ups, but they have completely different layouts, different inversions, and even different trains (Chang has the newer design)... you're trying to make it sound like they're adding two of the exact same ride. For that matter, Knoebel's has two wooden coasters (Phoenix/Twister)... Geauga Lake had two inverted coasters (Steel Venom/Thunderhawk)... Kings Island at one point had two family suspended coasters (Reptar/Ghoster Coaster)... "That's how it works"? Really? Since when did you make the decisions on what rides parks have in their lineup? Sure, it's uncommon, but it does happen. The GP doesn't care, they don't see the details like RCDB loving enthusiasts do. Heck, when they put in Thunderhawk up here at Michigan's Adventure everyone was ecstatic and thought it was a great "new" coaster. They didn't know it had been running since 1998 at another park in Ohio. Heck, some people think it's the same as our 1979 Corkscrew across the lake! The point that deathbydinn and myself are trying to make is that these are two very different rides. While they both use stand-up trains, they are completely different in many other aspects. And, let's be honest, if the GP doesn't have a problem with two mouse coasters within 100 yards of each other (Ragin' Cajun and Dark Knight), they're not going to have a problem with Iron Wolf and Chang in the same park.

Off-topic of the Chang/Bizarro conversation, but I was just wondering if anyone else is heading to the park Saturday to spend a day around. I'll be there, probably wearing shorts and my Maverick 2007 crew shirt. Say hi if you see me!

Quick question: how late is Kennywood open this weekend? The website says "usually around 10PM" but I figure someone on here has a better idea.

^ He also forgot the awesome Logger's Run crew. Operations up here this year are quite a bit better, as we're able to pick the best employees as compared to previous years. That being said, we still are expected to keep to minimum staffing levels, leaving long lines for rides like Corkscrew, Wolverine Wildcat, Swan Boats, etc. Still love my Logger's Run crew, however, and I think we're the best in the park this year (I know, I'm biased). Glad to see you enjoyed it, hope to see you back here in the future!

The tent you speak of has been around since 2007. It is the storage tent for the Halloweekends parade floats, and is located between the Planning & Design building and Gemini. The stationing area for new additions to the park has always been either the Soak City parking lot (Dragster and Millennium) or near Breakers Express (Maverick).

Hehe, yeah, we like doing that. I'm a Skycoaster Site Controller, so (obviously) I love skycoasters. I've been on around 20 of them, now, from the smaller models like at Kings Island to the big one at Old Town. To me, once it's over 175 feet they all feel the same. For a first timer, it's definitely worth it. I took my first flight when I was training to be a Site Controller, and screamed the entire way. Solo flights are definitely the way to go, even if it does cost more money. Skycoasters are great fun. If anyone has any questions I might be able to answer, let me know!

Going to go with 6 duckies Big Mike.

Two duckies. Maybe I just can't see them anymore.

This is my third year with Cedar Fair, probably going to be a lot more after this one. 2007 - Cedar Point - Maverick Also trained at CP & LE Railroad, maXair, and Snake River Falls 2008 - Michigan's Adventure - Roving TL / Adventure Falls TL Trained at all rides in the park 2009 - Michigan's Adventure - Logger's Run TL / Skycoaster Site Controller Also trained at Thunderhawk, Scrambler, Thunderbolt, Tilt-a-Whirl, Trabant, Flying Trapeze, Falling Star, Dodgem, Sea Dragon and Ripcord I'm hoping to actually leave ride operations and get into PR or Marketing sometime in the future. We'll see.

Said accident didn't happen on the lift hill, it happened on the first double helix. I was two trains from getting on the ride that day in the front seat when the first of two trains of riders came back injured. From the looks of it, there was no accident this time around, just a decision made not to open it.

Jeremie, I still need you to PM me your new address so I can get our recent trade out.

Hey guys, I've updated my list in the first post again. I've been getting a few more brochures and maps to trade, and of course I'm always interested in ones that I might now have for my collection and ParkBrochures.com. Send me a PM if you're interested in trading! -Jon

This looks like it's going to be freakin' sweet. Still hoping they put in a 900 foot skycoaster someday, though.

I, too, am still waiting on two trades, both of which were trades from across the pond (one in France and one in Sweden). It's been about four weeks now, I'm not sure why some international mail goes fast and some goes slow, perhaps it's due to the US customs department? Matteo, if my trade is one of yours that hasn't gone through in another week or two send me a PM and we'll see what we can work out.

Wow, Shane. I'm not much of a waterpark person, but this looks really awesome! I really can't wait to see what else you have in store for this place, I'll have to make a stop if I'm ever way out that way.